Peoria approves $109M green infrastructure consent decree 11-0

for for e good afternoon everyone uh would like to welcome everybody to our special city council [Music] meeting mayor ARIS council member Ali here council member sear here council member graab here council member Jensen here council member Kelly here council member montal Longo here council member Moore present council member Oiler here council member Rach here and council member Ruck Regal present you have a quum present Mr chairman uh thank you madam clerk in accordance with Governor uh pritzker's executive order 2020-69 which limits meetings to the lesser of 25 persons or 25% of the overall room capacity and executive orders 20207 33 44 and 59 requiring the provision of video audio or telephonic access to meetings as well as the CDC recommending social distancing of at least six feet between persons City Hall has implemented changes and restrictions for the special council meeting on December 15 2020 while complying with the open meetings act the council meeting will be held remotely with members of the council and staff attending via teams platform members of the public and media are invited to watch through the live stream on the city of Pia's website YouTube local television channel 22 or listen through wcbu radio submissions for public comment uh were received through the city clerk's office the agenda minutes and video podcast of the meeting will be available online through the city website at this time I'd like everyone to join me and stand for a moment of Silent prayer or silent reflection followed by the Pledge of Allegiance pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one more nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all before we get started I just wanted to remind the council real quick to please use the chat function on the on the platform if you need to be recognized or make a motion Madam clerk our first item of business is 20-36 and is a communication from the mayor Corporation Council with request to approve the Declaration of local state of emergency uh thank you I have a motion uh to approve by council member riggenbach there a second seconded by council member Ru Rego any discussion on this item seeing none Madam clerk could you call the role please mayor Aris I uh council member Ali I council member sear I council member graab I council member Jensen hi council member Kelly hi council member montal Longo okay council member Moore yes council member Oiler hi council member uh riggenbach hi and council member Ruck Regal hi it passes 101 nay uh council member uh Montel Longo voting nay item 20-33 is a communication from the mayor and city manager with a request to approve a consent degree to decree with the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the state of Illinois Environmental Protection Agency thank you U Madam clerk um I have a couple comments but I think I'll defer to the city manager who wants to uh run through a short slide deck first Mr manager thank you Mr Mayor um and I I will apologize in advance if my dogs who are very excitable this afternoon start barking I apologize for that in advance I'm working from home today um very quickly and I just wanted to walk through this quickly and get to the last slide because that's probably the most gerine for what we're talking about um this is 14 years in the making we've been negotiating with the federal government uh for the last 14 years um to put together um an implementation plan to comply with the federal Clean Water Act um we have been working as a team to do do that we have members of the Public Works team our Consulting team on the call today um and our legal team as well to help you answer any questions that you may have uh just from a history perspective I think we all know it our our city was built uh with combined sewers in the oldest part of town the eight square miles of the city that's the oldest part of the city um once we uh created the Sanitary District and and put the sewage treatment plant in place we never separated those sewers um when the clean clean water Act was passed in the 19 early 1970s um it became a requirement that we try and move towards uh eliminating all of our uh overflows as best we possibly could we did some work in the late 80s uh to make that happen and and to get that fixed however as we were negotiating a new long-term control plan and submitting it the federal government came back to us and said and the state government came back and said that we needed to make additional changes to our system so uh as we started negotiating with the federal government we started negotiating with them uh about possibly building a large uh second Riverfront Interceptor pipe uh nearly a half a billion dollar capital investment uh that would run through uh and along our uh the the shoreline along our our Riverfront um it was a half a billion dollar projected cost um and we started negotiating with them different Alternatives including um storage uh options including um you know different spots along the way where we might put storage in place then in 2015 the federal government came out with guidance talking about Green Storm water infrastructure uh they came out with a a fact sheet and some guidance that basically encouraged communities to look at uh green storm water infrastructure Investments uh and as we looked at peia we realized that the areas below the bluff we could certainly uh provide an investment of green storm water infrastructure that would that would Infiltrate The rainwater into our Sandy soils in the in the river valley uh at a faster rate um than than we would in a cheaper uh solution than if we were to just simply build a large pipe and transfer and convey the water to the sewage treatment plant so over the last several years we have worked uh and as this slide here shows you uh on various um um green storm water uh pilot project projects to show that we could uh build um different projects and uh infiltrate the water before it got into the sewer systems uh and we'll um the the consent decree as it's laid out uh really does Define that opportunity for us and and prescribes the the solution that we have negotiated so this is probably the most key slide in the whole uh four page slide deck that we have um the program would begin in 2022 and we would have have 18 years to complete the uh the CSO requirements we would have um U four Milestones that we would have to meet the first is 2024 where we'd have to have 20% of our CSO volume reduced by that time frame we're estimating that that first um that first four years will be about $15 million for the city um in terms of our investment and then about $200,000 annually of additional maintenance costs by 2027 we'd have to have 35% of our CSO volume reduced we think that will cost an estimate that that will cost another $16 million and that our our um maintenance costs will grow by $600,000 um by 2030 we have to have 50% of our CSO volume reduced and again another 16 million of investment uh looking at now about a million dollars of annual operating expenses uh and this runs through 2039 as you can see on this chart it would be $109 million of capital investment and roughly by the time it was completed $3.5 million of annual expense to maintain the system um this is in addition to the sanitary District's Investments that they'll be making and they're going going to frontload um their Capital Investments uh they have about $28 Million worth of capital Investments to make uh into their system pursuant to the consent decree uh that that $28 million uh hopefully will help us to achieve the volume reduction that we need in that first Milestone as part of the project as well um overall as we've looked at this uh we started to and I think we've mentioned to the council that we have submitted a project plan to the Illinois EPA to finance the first tranch this first $15 million of of uh investment that we want to make um and what we would be doing is using a revolving Loan Fund that the State Illinois EPA currently has at a very low and attractive interest rate and so as we've looked at the the first six years of of the the project costs we've anticipated that the impact for a household would be roughly $5 um per year of an increased cost in sewer rates to cover this capital investment and as we've discussed before the 109 million would come from uh increased sewer rates and then the ongoing uh average annual operating expenses would come out of the storm water utility so with that Mr Mayor I would be happy to uh answer any questions that the council may have thanks um Mr manager uh for the uh for the quick review there and uh there's a a tremendous amount of of information on this and for especially for our listening audience that would like more information they can go to our website and get it um it's hard to for me to believe that we're finally at a point where we're going to get this consent degree done uh I think from a timing standpoint to get it done before the end of the year and before a potential or not a potential but when a new Administration comes in uh in in the past that's usually had some uh bearings on wherever we are in the negotiations so a new Administration usually means new uh players in the administration and so on so uh by getting this approved uh now before the new Administration takes over I think we'll we'll keep that from happening um there are a few questions but let me just uh my my intention is only to speak once to this and it really is to just give a few thanks to uh people that have been involved with this um project for all these years um certainly the the manager and in public works and legal uh other um members of staff that have been working really hard on this both here uh our trips to DC Chicago and and elsewhere uh not just this Council but all the past councils that have continued to provide uh policy direction to the manager and staff uh and also to our our Consultants when we pivoted uh a number of years ago to come up with this uh really what's a 100% Green Solution the first in the country we really felt like we would be uh setting the new uh the new standard uh for other communities to look at when they're working with the US EPA on how to address their CSO issues and uh I think on a number of our visits to Washington DC we actually heard that from the USC PA that um this was uh kind of a whole new ball game and and it really opened up a lot of new avenues for communities to consider when they were addressing uh how to remediate um the combined sewers so um to the to the all the engineering folks and the Consultants uh that worked uh to develop this I think it's going to uh it's going to certainly uh put Peoria in that position of being the first community in our country uh who utilized a 100% Green Solution to this and uh really set the stage going forward to uh to using Green Solutions to address these problems so many thanks not not all just because it was a 100% Green Solution but we also went from close to a half a billion dollars in cost uh to our taxpaying uh constituents down to roughly $110 million so we achieved achieved a green solution and we achieved significant savings for our taxpayers um I'd also like to thank uh believe it or not there uh outside of the city government uh the County Board had a lot to do with helping us get to this point chairman Andrew Rand uh was very instrumental in in uh in these discussions um the um appointment of uh the new CEO uh at the sanary district Brian Johnson uh who helped this discussion tremendously and also a number of uh new board members over the years that really took a more comprehensive look at U at this at this situation so I think the chairman and uh the County Board also the CEO uh Brian Johnson as well as um the the board members uh for the Sanitary District uh this this couldn't have gotten done without a lot of a lot of hard work uh it's still it's still a tough um Bill to look at on top of everything else that we have going but um I think universally there's no one on the council that wants to uh be in a position uh for us to be putting uh things in the river that have been going in the river for the last 100 years so uh I think we can be satisfied uh to know that we are going to have this problem remediated and uh thanks to all those who helped us get to this Point uh we have a number of questions and I'm showing councilman riggenbach first councilman thank you Mr Mayor and I would just Echo wholeheartedly your thanks to to all those folks because a 14-year negotiation with the federal government isn't something that comes to resolution lightly as as we all know so um thank you um I also hope that we make sure this is delivered to the public and the taxpayers of Poria in an appropriate manner first of all that this is clearly an unfunded mandate from from the EPA that this is not something that um any of us had on our campaign Flyers when we ran for office but it is a project that we can all be proud of in the fact that it is um having a tremendous impact on on the um Illinois River so um I I think it's really important that we make sure that this is um relay to the public and that they appreciate the value of what this project means Mr manager let me address um my question however to you and this 100% Green Solution is something that we're all very proud of and um um the the the issue though I think is what happens with these Milestones if for instance at December 31st um 2024 whatever yeah 2024 we're we're at 15% reduction instead of the 20% what what kind of repercussions will the city Ur well I think that that normally the way that this works and and I'm going to ask uh Jan geris and Greg myth who's Greg is our consultant from simont who's been working on this to to jump in if they uh based upon the discussions if I if I miss anything um the Milestones are there to make sure that we're moving down that path and what the federal government will will likely tell us to do is to is to just simply redouble our efforts to put in more projects and scale up faster so that we can get into compliance uh they could potentially say that if we're um if we're not meeting those Milestones that they could step in and force us to do certain things uh but it's really the way that we've discussed it with them it's really more about about just scaling up the number of projects that we have and what we could be doing Jane is it did I miss anything with that from your perspective no you you you um you summarized it adequately um just for the C 's benefit this slide that's up here now is a little bit front-loaded so this slide is meant to show you the pace of dollars spent but if you look at the consent decree the deadlines for us to prove um that we've met these um these Milestones is actually a year down the pike so we've got a little bit of factor of safety included in here and there are Provisions in the in the consent decree for us to catch up if we do miss some Milestones thank you for that and if I may just um take this one step further I know we had talked about this previously but there's not an opportunity for them to revisit this and say well you're a a Grace We're not gonna be spending $110 million and then end up having to put in a gray in addition to this are we that that's probably the one concern that that I've heard what if this doesn't work well councilman that we we have pledged to them that we would be putting this together um with the intent to if we need to put in more we'll have to put in more to meet those milestones we have a performance-based consent decree that requires us to meet the standards Within within that consent decree um and if that means that we have to put in more projects we'll have to put in more projects that's something that we'll have to do um our goal is to within the within the consent decree to try and get down to uh as little as as um overflows as possible I think we're we're allowed Jane feel free to jump in here again uh for in any given year based upon the traditional year that we've seen over the last 45 years is that right 55 years so um that's what we're we're allowed based upon they understand that you're going to have sometimes a big rainstorm that comes in um but but um we have a standard that we have to meet and and and if that means that we have to scale up more projects we'll have to scale up more projects great I I again I'm 110% behind this and I just want to make sure that as as we've been talking about this for for 14 years or or councils have been talking about it that we make sure that the public understands the um the the process that we'll be going through in these next 18 years and with that being said i' I'd be happy to put it out of motion out there just um you know to get it out there so I would move to approve okay thank you councilman we have a motion to approve uh we have more questions but let's uh get a second we have a second by councilman Oiler thank you uh next up we have council member SE thank you Mr Mayor uh Mr manager just a couple questions first one is a general question tell me a little bit about how is the US EPA or Illinois EPA raised their money uh I'm concerned about the $100,000 fine why are they getting $100,000 fine and where's that money going well councilman the reason that we're we being fined is that in the in the eyes of the federal government the city of Poria is considered a polluter we've been violating Clean Water Act and that's the reason why we're here is that is that we're we're discharging sewage into the Illinois River and they they feel that that that's a requirement that that as as a even as a municipal government um that and that is doing everything and taking the steps that we we have uh over the years when we started when before we did our first round of of uh infrastructure improvements uh back in the 80s we were discharging 640 million gallons of sewage into the Illinois River every year we've cut that down to I believe uh right around 180 million gallons and we're going to be working towards moving that down to zero but in the federal government's eyes they have looked at this and said you're violating the Clean Water Act so therefore we're asking for a civil monetary penalty as part of the consent decree um we've negotiated that down to the lowest level looking at what other communities have had to pay um we feel that this is a very appropriate uh penalty that we're going to have to pay and we would recommend that the council adopt this consent decree okay a few more question on the slide four I heard you say uh about the har 9 million for a capital cost is that correct we're in today's dollars what we're looking at is is $109 million of of capital expense um which is laid out on that that slide four so you know we're looking at staging that over 18 years so it would be um we're you know we we've got an application in front of the iepa for 15 million um and then the next trunch will be looking at trying to secure 16 then 16 then 21 and then eventually 41 million I understand that but so we got Capital cost and we got greater P Sanitary District get hit for $28 million tell me or tell us about operation costs I don't see anywhere I mean you and I had that conversation before how much it going to cost us for operation so if you it on that same slide four the last column shows you what our we're estimating to be our annual operating expenses uh as we move through the milestones and eventually that's not what I'm talking about don't Mr manager I'm not for for us to do the work for the city workers Public Department Public Work Department to do the work I mean it's got to cost us 20 25 $30 million just to do the work correct the the the the the projects we're estimating that the that the first trch of projects are going to be $15 million to meet the the first Milestone so that's that's what we're estimating in terms of the expense of building those those projects then so operations included in that then the the operating expense we're anticipating in the OR projecting out to be about $200,000 annually for the first $15 million worth of projects so when you talked earlier about your loan to the state uh is this GNA be just a first tranch for $15 million or how much money got we gonna borrow that that's correct it's just we're looking at the first trunch that we're looking at at trying to seek the funding for of $15 million so that we can get started with this and then you know as we progress hopefully we're successful in in in that first Milestone the first four years that we have to implement this and then we'll go back to the to the iepa uh as long as the the the funding sources are there uh it's the lowest cost of capital it's it's under 2% in terms of the the cost to the City compared to if we were to issue bonds for it um so that's the reason why we're pursuing that Avenue and that's uh I didn't hear you earlier so that's that's going to cost for the first $15 million going to cost our constituent $5 doll per month you said or per year $5 doll per year beginning in 2023 and that and growing through to 2026 about $5 additional each year thereafter roughly thank you sir thank you okay I have uh council member rck we go next thank you Mr Mayor um and I think again although it's been said I don't think we can say this enough um thank you to all involved for all of their hard work in bringing this to fruition what really stood in front of us as a city of an unfunded Mandate of 500 half a billion dollars we are looking at bring that down to $110 million which is significant savings and while that number is still large in front of us um I think it's important to realize what um these years of negotiations and hard work have already been able to return back to the taxpayers and the property owners from the city of Peoria um and again always remember this is an unfunded mandate that was put on in in front of us with these stipulations um Mr Mr manager could you please talk about um and while nobody likes to see Revenue coming in that that might be additional to them um I think one of the things that is different about this where we are at this project compared to where we were when it was 500 million is the fact that we also will be talking about local jobs versus something that may have been spent to companies and groups that would have been outside of the area can you talk about how local jobs will be affected by what we're talking about with this Green Solution absolutely um as we look at the as we look at the green storm water projects and as we look at at the investment that we'll be making uh in our neighborhoods one of the advantages that we looked at as we started to look at at this as a potential solution was the fact that instead of us simply putting a a a pipe in the ground um a large you know Riverfront Interceptor size pipe in the ground which there are very few American companies if at all that could do that work most of them are overseas companies that would come in it would be a a you know a four year project or threeyear fiveyear project and and you know they're they're gone um by doing it this way by looking it using the green the solution what we're able to do is we're able to to engage our neighborhoods talk about the types of of green storm water investments we might want to make whether that's um bios swes whether that's dry Wells whether that's permeable pavement um and we can look at that that solution with within each one of the neighborhoods with in each one of the sewer sheds and we can have that conversation with the with the neighborhood about the type of of investment that we can make as we're investing it on the uh on all the infrastructure we have that's above ground and that allows us to also get the added benefit as we work through this of improving that infrastructure above ground as well um and I think that that by doing that and by scaling that we're going to be able ble to also uh bid that and and bid packages of of these projects uh at a level that's going to put people to work in our community and and so there's that multiplier effect that will go into this by allowing us to to scope projects and put projects just as we do right now when we did the the U the pilot project on Adams between Pimon and pan uh or when we when we're looking at the Western Avenue project uh and we'll be you'll be seeing that that bid will be coming back to council at the first meeting in January um that's a project that has um a Green Solution built into it so we're able to to utilize that um and so that has that multiplier effect which I think we all want to see is that we're able to employ people locally see our local Tradesmen get to work um and be able to see that happening in our neighborhoods so if I'm hearing this correct um and I know we've had a lot of community meetings um throughout the years on what this would really mean for the city and and talking about The Green Solution versus the gray solution but I think from what I'm hearing from you again and to reiterate this is by going with this Green Solution not only are we investing in our own people and keeping those dollars here locally which then have a an extra added effect to be able to help our local economy but the investment also happens where if we were putting a pipe just down the middle of the road that would be buried that nobody would see we actually don't get the benefit on top we're seeing an a benefit to our neighborhoods on the top surface with this green solution that could potentially change the look and feel of some of our neighborhoods that we need the investment in is that correct absolutely correct okay and just one more time and I I think that you know you answered this for council member here we are looking at um can you go over we're looking at $5 a year we're we're anticipating that in that in 2023 we should see the first rate increase that we'll have to build into this um which would be uh approximately $5 per household and then that would grow by approximately $5 do per household uh for the next um several years and as we continue to to build this out uh it is going to require an increase in sewer rates in order for us to do this you just can't we just can't uh magically uh fund $19 million of capital projects um but it but it will you we're looking at how we can do that in a um in a responsible manner to keep the rates the sewer rates as low as possible in any given year okay thank you Mr manager thank you Mr Mayor for all of your hard work and Leadership over the years on being able to bring this to a fruition and to a close thank you thank you uh we have council member Jensen next uh thank you mayor artist um I'd just like to make a few comments since um this is such a big huge uh undertaking of the city and um a project I've been in advocating and involved with um since the beginning I guess well not 14 years ago but um one of the first execs I attended when I joined the council seven years ago in 2013 this was the topic that we were discussing and we were discussing um the epa's proposal for the um half half a billion dollar um 100% gray big pipe solution um and during that meeting we started talking wait a minute isn't there another way to do this um and that's when we you know started talking about looking into doing it in a more sustainable manner in a green manner manner um so this is a huge example of innovation it's actually Innovative creative and good government at work um so I'd like to thank you know the leadership of of our former um directors of Public Works um Michael Rogers and Scott Reese and the city manager for um and all the staff and the council for sticking with it um and coming up with this solution you I understand it's a huge amount of money and an undertaking but it is so much less than what was originally proposed and what we were getting ready to approve uh seven years ago um and not only is it um environmentally good for our city and our neighborhoods um it's going to create a whole um new sector for economic development um and job creation um as the mayor and others have pointed out we'll be the first city in the country um to solve this CSO problem with 100% Green Solution and I'm proud of that and it really can be a huge opportunity for us and for the city of Poria to lead um so I I'm I'm glad we're finally here um I support this wholeheartedly and again I just like to thank the the council the mayor um the city manager and the staff for um your vision and for your perseverance for sticking with this and seeing this through thank you thank you uh we have councilman gra next we will soon begin the largest Public Works project in the history of our city and it has not been easy to come to this point over many many years of litigation but every previous city council to the person stuck together during contentious litigation and insist Ed that we get the best bang for the buck for our people with a green fix and with head of household Union local labor jobs it hasn't been easy there was a very large Titanic struggle involving this city and its representative and that of the EPA unconvincing the EPA that we as a community were up to the challenge to do this and make Poria one of the greenest cities in the country maybe second only to Philadelphia Pennsylvania so while we never like to be sued and were pursuant to the Clean Water Act passed under the Nixon Administration I think we're having a successful outcome and I think we'll have a much better 20 21 with this issue behind us thank you mayor thank you councilman we have council member Ali next thank you mayor artist uh I just want to didle many of the comments that have already been made and commend uh you mayor artist uh city manager and everyone that has been involved in what appears to be the very best possible solution to remediate the C problem problem that we have I um I certainly wasn't involved in a lot of this work that's been done over the last 14 or or so years but I'm very pleased to be part of this historical day that adopts this consent decree I think that this is going to be great for Peoria in terms of our environment our health and job opportunities I do have a question for you Mr uh city manager uh you indicated that the program begins in 2022 and I know that there's been some initial work already uh but why do we wait till 2022 is it a matter of resources it it is thank you for that great question um what we're we're going to do um we've applied with our pre-application for the funding through the state um we're hoping that by March we should hear that we've got the preliminary approval from the from the state with regards to our application and then we'll work with them to to formalize that um that funding package and that it's going to take them almost another year before that funding would actually become um fully available to us uh so um the other aspect is that we're going down is that uh the federal government has asked us to go forward with this approval right now they still will run this back to Washington to have a formal signing off on the consent decree uh after we have signed off on it then it has to be uh filed and and lodged in the the Federal Register uh there's a 30-day comment period and then it gets filed in federal court once it's filed in federal court it may take uh another couple of months before the federal judge actually signs off and says that the consent decree is fully effective so from a timing perspective as we move this forward it will take us time to get the F from from today until we actually get an effective consent decree it could be another four or five months and and then we know that we might have another um uh 12 months before we know that we've got the full funding through the through the state um and then we and it may not be until uh the spring of 2022 when we can actually start to see the projects go this actually also affords our staff the time to now engage the community and and look at where we want to start with some of the projects and where we want to start that public engagement process that's very helpful thank you thank you mayor thank you we have council member more next thank you Mr Mayor I'm sorry of coming off of mute and all of that goes with that uh I just want to add my uh congratulations to the team that put all of this together I know our public works department has has done a lot of the heavy lifting here uh I'm sure they wish especially Scott uh would be would like to be around to see all of this uh signed if we go ahead and approve it today because uh I remember a lot of um headaches and and frustration and and mayor you and Scott and um the city manager taking your trips to Washington DC to beat on some people uh toward this Green Solution so congratulations to all my question uh for the city manager um you indicated that there would be a $5 per year increase is that on top of the change in sewer rates or until we change the sewer rates no they that will come back to you and and you'll be asked to increase the sewer rates to cover the proposed uh cost increase that we have so um that would be the $5 a year you referred to or it would it be something more no we're anticipating that the rates will will have to increase $5 beginning in 20123 specifically for the CSO okay now we staff has looked at it we're not sure based upon um other other capital projects and other sewer costs that we currently incur um we think that that the sewer rates are are at a pretty good level with where they are currently so really this is just to cover the cost of the CSO is what we're anticipating right now okay um another question is regarding uh a community facing document that can be shared uh perhaps even on on Comcast channel 22 what you provide us is is fine for our discussion here but I I've learned that folks are very Visual and having this information uh synthesized in such a way as to be easily um uh received by the community would be of great help um because I'm sure when this goes forward uh once it's reported on all many will hear that there's going to be an increase in sewer rates uh and so we want to make sure that as clear as we are getting information from you today in some way there may be some um graphic with with text that can make sure that it is clear to the community at large um that led me to think that perhaps uh I don't know if it's something that a short video uh can be embedded it embedded on channel 22 Stacy is so good at what she does she does over there or maybe this may be an an H Wayne Willam M wtvp special uh where perhaps um some of the areas you mentioned that have already um been uh completed as pilot or First Steps in the this process the vores far uh well Farm the Adam Street um uh project uh some of those things can be Illustrated uh because we have been collecting funds um that people would like to see where those monies have been going for the extra money that they've been paying um is that something that is in the realm of possibility absolutely we've we've got a lot of information currently out on the web uh pertaining to uh not only the CSO but the storm water utility and we'd be happy to uh continue with the public education and Outreach efforts yeah and and you make my point when you say we have a lot of information out on the web we have a ton of information out there uh somehow we need to make sure that um we need uh to synthesize that into an easily digestible format um I'm not sure how that that can be done um that's not my My Lan but I'm sure through graphics and illustrations um we can we can address some of the concerns that I'm hearing from folks about uh um the bills that they're receiving I'm sure all of you may have received calls and texts from folks who are just now getting an uh their bills for the December and so every time those go out we we receive a ton of calls um but I just want to make sure that when the community sees this information they understand the value that this process is bringing to the entire city not just a specific area um water runs downhill you know we're downhill where we are right now well well most of us some of us are sitting right now um and that's why it needs to be addressed thank you Mr manager and congratulations congratulations once again thank you uh we have council member Montelongo next uh thank you Mr chairman uh I too I'm very happy to see this coming to an end um very happy to know that this Administration was willing to work with us I know early on and I've been on the council since 2007 and this discussion has been going on a long time um and gosh from where we got started from hearing what the penalties were going to be the overall potential cost for the city and um I'm just I'm just happy we we've gotone to a palatable amount um that we feel like we can accomplish this I know for me personally made trips out onto the river to see the out the overflows or the outflows not with Public Work looked at drawings held public meetings myself with my coffee and conversation meetings with with my constituents to explain even what the combined sub overflow problem was or is and the countless number of hours that we've spent in executiv executive meetings discussing this um so yes I'm I'm happy to to know that we are finally coming to a uh to an end here um I did have a couple questions as well um Mr city manager um and just kind of following what councilman seir was talking about um for example the uh $15 million in the very first one 2024 looking at the um high level Capital cost estimate um when we're talking about that number and I guess all the rest of them so that's a number that's broke out or or includes and if you would break it out includes the labor material and I'm I'm sure some kind of administration the the $15 million includes the the design the public engagement and the construction the Capital Construction the ongoing maintenance once those projects are built whether it's uh cleaning permeable pavement or it's um maintaining the BIOS swales that may be put in place um that cost is in the far right column which is the the our annual estimates on what what we think the the operating and maintenance costs would be included so if you think of the uh of just as we do a road project where we may engage with a a Consulting engineer to provide you know that that phas phase one and phase two Consulting um that where you're meeting with the community you're trying to do the design work we'll be doing that same kind of thing on these types of projects and then once we get into implementation you move into that phase three of the the engineering where they're doing the construction engineering they're making sure that as it's being built out um that if there's any field Corrections that need to be made that that's being made uh in the field um and and then lastly you know once what built bu and once it's turned over to the city to maintain uh that's when you know we'll have that added cost that shows up in that far right column sure um so I was just following that 15 million 16 16 21 and 41 million doll um in each one of those segments um and I was just trying to wrap my mind around how many people would be working on those projects where's that money going to be spent at um and I think that as well would be a very important piece for the public to understand that um the last part uh you mentioned about talking about the projects um is there a final drawing that shows all the projects that are going to be um completed at the very end I was sorry I was muted uh there is no no um listing right now of final projects uh again this is a performance-based consent decree um and we know that that um we have significant amounts of public investment and engagement that we're going to need to do um what I can tell you is that is that this $109 million is going to go in the combined sewer overflow area so it's within the eight square miles that we're talking about within our CSO area so so that's where the focus of this investment will be um you know as we've discussed the the reason we have the storm water utility is because we know that we have a city that's 50 square miles and so we have other drainage needs and other other storm water needs that that are are throughout the rest of the city um and that's where the storm water utility will come in um as we continue to to move down the path of implementing the backlog of storm water projects that we have so so this is this is we don't have specific projects identified yet um honestly we've been really just trying to get to the point where we got the concurrence with the the federal government over over the the performance standards uh because we knew that there would be a significant amount of public engagement that would have to follow yeah uh well absolutely I think one of the critical things would be is to start putting some of these drawings together um to help communicate to the public work their money's going um and once again it'll be um like everybody else pointed out it'll be U mixed with the um people working on the projects that that live in our community so uh that's all I have I will be supporting this today so thank you very much for everybody who's worked on this we have council member Kelly next uh thank you Mr Mayor um I'd like to add my voice to those of everyone else uh or add my thanks to all the folks who had something to do with this including past councils including people who are no longer on our city council I this has um this is a tremendous tremendous accomplishment in my opinion and um y will be all the better for it so but Mr manager I have a couple of questions as well first of all um you mentioned the uh fees that we're going to be charging and going to be increasing over time uh to cover I I suspect the capital uh investment here F first of all is that right this is to cover the capital investment that the the proposed sewer increases are are um anticipated to cover the cap Capital expense okay thank you thank you um so as these fees increase we can uh do more is it your anticipation that in the year 2039 we will have zero lingering debt from um uh from this project no I I I think that that um you know even with um you know loans at 1.75% um if you if you take each one of these individual tranches um and and run them out at approximately that kind of interest rate um we're still going to have uh obligations to pay those loans back after that final um that final piece of of compli I with the consent decree runs it will probably have to run um you know for for um 10 to 20 years longer um than that 2039 date um realizing that we are uh projecting some things that where we don't have complete information What in in the year 2039 what kind of debt do you anticipate having from the these projects at that time well all right so if just by looking at at the table if if you're borrowing 15 million in 2024 with with roughly 20 years to pay it back your final payment is going to be in 20134 you know if you look at 2027 and you've got 20 years to to to pay that back um That's 20407 So you you're just going to have to finance each one of these individual packages as move forward um knowing that that's an ongoing obligation that you're going to have to carry Mr manager I what will the fees be covering I thought the fees were covering were directed toward Capital costs that is that that is correct that it it's it's cover the fees are being increased to cover the cost of the the borrowing and the capital investment that we're making so that's going to be the the way that we can keep the rates the lowest for the taxpayer is to run that forward and to project that out over time um we'll be happy to to to send you kind of a an estimate of where we think that those those fees I don't have it here today uh are going to look like uh over the next 18 years and then you know as we carry out that debt over the long term so and we can get that to the council yeah let let me make sure I I get what you're saying here Mr manager are you saying that as these figur if all these figures ended up being correct that at the end of 2039 we would have 109 Million worth of debt no because your your first Year's first $15 million of payments that you have will be falling off by 20 2044 you're going to have you're going to have the financing costs that you're going to be carrying out but it's it it will Plateau and then eventually some of that will drop off as you have your first few years of payments that are being made this we'll put that together for you and that way you can you can kind of see where we're anticipating as we've talked in the past we we know that that that you just can't magically create 109 million um and then and then assume that that's just something you're going to drop in your plate and be able to SP end immediately so what we've tried to do is break this out into smaller packages that then we could we could structure the financing to keep the rates at the lowest level um over the next foreseeable future knowing that we have to we have uh 18 years to comply and that anytime you finance you know multi-million dollar projects like this it's going to take another um you know 10 to 20 years to finance the rest of that Mr manager my my my question here I guess I'm being unclear which isn't unusual for me my question here is we've got debt and we've got fees so the fees of course would pay for some of these numbers in that column and what's remaining that the fees aren't going to cover we would borrow now I'm correct on that am I not no the the the fees we're borrowing the money we're borrowing $15 million from the state at a 1.75% interest rate and then we're going to use the fees to pay that $15 million plus the interest over the next 20 years and then we're gonna we're going to continue to do that again with the next trance and the next trch that's the way that we can keep the rate the lowest if we were to to we don't have $15 million in the sewer fund to be able to pay as we go so that's the reason why we're structuring it this way okay all right I'll be very interested in seeing uh your analysis uh the other question I had uh Mr manager was I I believe that you said uh concerning the last column uh that I I believe you said that at the end we'd have an annual uh operation and maintenance cost of $3.5 million which I and you lost me at that point because I thought that starting at the top we were talking cumulative numbers so the first uh the first Trash it would be 200,000 a year that and then the the next TR would be 600,000 a year and the next you know a million Etc yeah if if it was if I'm right that you said three and a half million on an ongoing basis where where am I mistaken in my uh in my assumptions here well I think I I think what we the the bottom of the page it says annual operations and maintenance cost are estimated to be 3% of the capital costs so 109 million uh at 3% of that Capital cost would be $3.26 million a year so that's why we just I just rounded up to say it would be about $3.5 million annually for operations and maintenance when you look at the full $109 million okay in um 2039 yes what will our total according to this these projections three and a half roughly three and a half million dollar a year three and a half million dollar not two million we have a $2 million addition I guess it would be a $2 million addition for the final TR of work that would be done okay all right thank you I I was quite unclear on that point so we're looking at okay three and a half million all right uh Mr manager uh I know I've thanked folks but I really do thank you for leading the charge on this I think it's it's wonderful and U Mr Mayor thank you very much thank you uh any final questions or comments on this issue before we call the question I'm not seeing any um I I do know that we uh have definitely thanked a whole lot of people here uh uh current and past staff members and consultants and elected officials but I would like to specifically call out um our senior engineer Jane geris on this um I got to tell you I learned so much from her over the years and and being in these uh meetings with USA and the uh Illinois IPA uh Illinois EPA um Jane uh was second to no one in any of those rooms in terms of uh the knowledge that she displayed and and her ability to uh comprehend questions and so on so um I know um we here at City Hall know uh the value that Jane brings to the organization and I uh I definitely want to call her out and and thank her for exceptional exceptional work over the years okay uh we have a motion by councilman riggenbach in a second by council member Oiler uh to approve uh the consent decree um I'm seeing no additional discussion so I'll ask the clerk to call the role please council member Ali I council member seir I council member graab I council member Jensen I council member Kelly hi council member montal Longo I council member Moore yes council member Oiler I council member riggenbach I council member Ruck Regal I council member rrio I and mayor Aris I passes unanimously 11 to zero thank you madam clerk um we would be at citizens opportunity to address the city council and I did not receive any emails uh for this meeting today and we do not have an executive session so we would be at adjournment okay thank you I would like to uh remind the listening audience that uh information regarding this the uh the CSO will be on the council website and council meeting information uh and I do believe that our communications director Stacy Peterson will be uh adding additional information to that as well uh okay we have uh no executive session so um move to adjourn by council member Montelongo and the second by council member Oiler I'm seeing no discussion Madam clerk could you call the role to adjourn mayor Aris hi council member Ali I council member Sear hi council member graab hi council member Jensen hi council member Kelly hi council member Montel Longo I council member Moore yes council member Oiler I council member riggenbach I and council member Ruck Regal I passes unanimously uh thank you Madame clerk we like to thank Joe Deacon and uh the listening audience at wcbu as well as the other uh media outlets for uh taking in this afternoon special meeting for us to approve the uh consent decree with the US upupa uh this meeting uh will now be adjourned our regular meeting uh next week is cancelled for the Christmas holiday so our uh our next official meeting will be uh the second Tuesday in January uh we'd like to wish all of our uh all of our listeners and taxpayer constituents a very uh peaceful safe and and blessed uh Christmas and uh hope everyone stays safe this meeting is Jour Merry Christmas everyone merry Christmas